Hull unit for air and water craft



March 29, 1932. s. E. HIT; 1,851,279

HULL UNIT FOR AIR AND WATER CRAFT Filed April 8, 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 O x O 6 w/ J 24 v l I 2 i a v f )Fzo D U :l m; \D i FIGI PIC-3.5

FIG E lNVENTOR JMFWM March 29, 1932. s. E. HlTT 1,851,279

HULL UNIT FOR AIR AND WATER CRAFT Filed April 8, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOF! March 29, 1932. s. E HlTT 1,851,279

HULL UNIT FOR ATR AND WATER CRAFT Filed April '8, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG.5

1N VENTOR r miles an hour when skipping over the tops of fill Patented Mar. 2e, i932" rarsnrforrlcsf SAMUEL E. HI'IT, OF ELYRIA, OHIO HULL UNIT FOR AIR AND wn'rnn'onnr r it Application filed April 8,

Thisapplication is a partial continuation of my application No. 264,684, filed March 26th,'1928 and relates to important elements .of construction for'hull units and superstructures, such as were disclosed in my said application, together with other important i1nprovements.

More particularly, my invention relates to. the construction of the hull, to make it seaworthy even in rough weather and to provide it with reserve buoyancy in case the'hull proper vbecomes damaged and is unable to carry the load. 7

Mytwo hull aero-plane-ship is primarily and aero-hydro-glider, capable of carrying athousand passengers or more and of making from one hundred and forty to two hundred waves or barely touching smooth water.

'My aero-plane-ship (hereinafter called aeroship) is approximately a thousand feet long and weighs several hundred tons and is built to clear the water at maximum speed but not intended to ever rise more than a few feet above the water as will beexplained further on.

Many attempts have been made to fly across theAt-lantic and Pacific Oceans with a few marked achievements and numerous disastrous failures and my invention is intended to overcome the difficulties of such a long flight for areoplanes, by utilizing the sustaining value of the water and by certain novel features of construction as will enable my aeroship, to safely ride out a storm.

' On'the Atlantic Ocean the wind sometimes attains a velocity of about eighty miles an hour with waves averaging over thirty feet n gh.

These waves not only travel fast-but have been'known to have a span of eight hundred I feet from crestto crest of waves.

When all is well, my aeroship can safely fly through such a storm, but ifthings go wrong,;and several of the propellers get outof commissionorthe aeroship looses several of its aeroplanes, it may be necessary to slow down and settle on the water to ride out the storm. 7

- Inthis'case myfaero'ship is subjected to the 1930. Serial No. 442,576.

Even in rough weather when the waves are running fifteen or twenty feet high, the sea is sometimes traversed by huge swells from thirty to forty feet high, superimposed on the other waves and traveling perhaps in a different direction. In case my aeroship was.

riding out a storm and encountered such high swells and the hull buckled under the strain, causing my aeroship to list or subside and to draw more water,the lives of passengers and crew would be imperiled. An object of my invention therefore is to reinforce the hull with a bridge like structure of such height and width as will make the hull strong enough to withstand the excessive strains when the hull spans from crest to crest of long waves and to withstand side strains due to pounding of the waves when the aeroship' is not headed in the direction of wave travel. 7

Another object of my invention is to provide a series of auxiliary floats several feet above the hull, so that in a rough sea,'when the hull is deeply immersed in the high waves, the floats will skip through the tops of waves andprevent the hull from further immersion; I 7

Another object of my invention is to provide a series of safety floats at a higher level at the bow and stern'to prevent .my aeroship from diving into a swell, with perhaps disastrous results.

The present with little danger of waves washing the upper deck. In. my aeroship, no such'large' hull surfaces are permissible, as the air resistance at high speeds would be prohibitive.

floats with cylindrical cross sections'in'steacl day liner is high at thebow vide such longitudinal web members so disposed within the hull as to be in line with the central and side loading planes of the inter mediate framing.

Another object of my invention is to so dispose the transverse web members within the hull. that one such web will be located at every panel point of the intermediate fram- Referring to the drawings Fig..1'is a plan ofmy hull unit.

F ig. 2 is a side. elevation, of the same.

Fig. 3. is asectional plan on: line 3.3 of F 2.

Fig.4. is a front elevation.

Fig. 5J5 a part plan of hull with top plate removed.

F ig'. 6 is a. partsection ofhull on line 6-6 Of 5;. I

F ig. ,7i isa cross section of hull on line 7 7 of Fig. 6;.

Fig. 8 is a cross-section of a frame member. Fig. 9 is a cross section of another frame member;

Numeral. 1 is a hull supporting the main frame 2-tlirough. the intermediate training, 3.

myaeroship as now planned, the hull l is 20 feet wide and 20 feet deep, the main.

frameor bridge member2 is 40 feet square andia thousandfeet long, carried by the intermediateframing 30 feet above the hull- 1;.

In smooth water, the weight of my aeroship. with itsv load causes the hullto draw about twelvefeet of water or half of itsvolume as shown by the water line 10-10.

When thesea is rough and the waves are running. highiasindicatcd' by the broken line 11--11=., long stretches of the hull will be out of the water'asfroma to b and from 0 to (Z' and other parts as from I) to 0 will be entirely sumberged.

I thereforeprovide auxiliary floats 4 a few feet-abovethe hull:1= to add buoyancy when the waves are high enough to reach them,

to prevent; the hulls from sinking much further inthewater. The floats 4 are'of cylindrical form to reduce both airand water rcsistance.v

Should my aeroship encounter a huge swell such as indicated by the broken line 1'2-12. then longer stretches of hull 1 will be out of the water as from m to a and more of the framing: will: be immersed.

Tomeet such a condition and to prevent the waves. from ever reaching the lower cabins 5, I provide a second series of auxiliary floats 6 and 6 along the bottom line of the main frame or bridge 2 or lower deck level.

When one of these huge swells is encountered, the greatest shock will be caused by the first impact, either fore or aft as the case may be.

I therefore provide additional safety floats 7 and 8 at higher levels at both the bow and stern to prevent my aeroship from diving or getting swamped and to cause the aeroship to ride up on the wave 12-12.

The end float 6 and the safety floats 7 and 8 are arranged pyramid like to follow the contour of the wave 1212.

The hull. l with the auxiliary floats. 4 and 6 and the safety floats 7 and, 8' form a laminated hull to provide a graduated buoyancy under varying conditions of travel without oflering any unnecessary resistance toeither air or water.

011 the second float level, i. e., for the upper auxiliary floats, the end floats 6 extend across the main frame 2 on account of the bow construction and the objective of getting a large volume at this level forward and aft of the cross bridges shown in my application N 0. 264,634 filed March 26th, 1928,. and connected to the main frame 2 at 25and 26.

The auxiliary floats 6 at this second series level, intermediate between the end floats 6 are placed in pairs on each side of the frame 2 as shown, partly for better construction but.

principally to allow for passage of water in case the wavesshould reach them, thus re ducing Water resistance and pounding.

In Fig. 8 is shown a frame member of triangular form 15, and in Fig. 9 is shown a double triangular section 16 or diamond with central web 17.

The section can be used in several ways but preferably with the apex 9 turned toward the resistance of external forces, either air or water.

All members of the main frame 2 and intermediate framing 3' are made with either section 15 or section 16 as far aspracticable.

The load to be carried by my hull 1' and main frame 2 consists of not only their own weight, but the weight of the masts 20, aeroplanes 21', propeller units 22,.cabins 5 and 23, the load due to the cross bridges 25 and 26 and other apparatus and machinery mounted on the main frame.

The main frame 2, or bridge member, is made strong enough to carry the aboveload over exposed spans between supportingwaves referred to above and the hull. 1 and intermediate framing 3 add further strength, the three elements acting together as a compound beam, considered as doubly safe.

In orderto attain speeds of 140miles per hour or more, it is necessary to reduce the head resistance of hull to water and the-skin resistance of hull to water to a minimum.

Y [1,851,279 a I 3' i In other words, for the power available and the lift of the aeroplanes, the aeroship must be as light as possible so that the hull 1 will draw a minimum depth of water.

I therefore plan to construct my entire unit, the hull 1, mainframe 2, intermediate framing 3, cabins 5 and 23, with their bracket framing 24, ofaluminum bronze. V

The reason for desiring a speed of over a hundred miles an hour is that when a storm area approaches, 3 the pilot can change his course and run awayfrom the storm. vVith a speed of over one hundred miles an hour, my aeroship can be placed in regular trans- Atlantic service. I

As shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, hull 1 has a smooth cylindrical bottom, 30, sloping sides 31 and top plate 32 of considerable curvature.

to more readily drain off the wash.

The sides 31 are inclined from the vertical to be in line of strain from the framing 3 and also for the purpose of-increasing the buoyancy rapidly as the hull 1 becomes further immersed in the water.

'Hull 1 is provided-with a central web 33, webs 3tat right angles to webs 31 and: webs 35 from center to gunwales, dividing the hull section into six parts of about equal area. With the cross. webs 36, the hull is thus divided into a great number of air tight and water tight cells or compartments, making the hull practically non-sinkable.

In brief my invention consists of a long cellular hull reinforced by a main frame or bridge which carries the loads due to floats,

cross bridges, cabins, masts, aeroplanes and other apparatus, the hull having suflicient buoyance to carry the above loads under normal conditions and the main frame or hull bridge member having suflicient strength to resist all longitudinal, horizontal and vertical strains due to air or water or loading, auxiliary floats to add buoyancy to the hull V in rough weather when the waves run high,

and additional safety floats at higher levels to prevent the bow from diving or the stern from being swamped when a high swell is encountered.

I claim: r

1. Inan air and water craft, a hull of relatively small cross-section in proportion to its length, a main structural metal frame-work secured to the said hull and extending above the said hull for the entire length of the hull, the said frame-work including a plurality of upright cross-bracing portions spaced from each other longitudinally of the hull.

2. In an air and water craft, a hull, a structural metal upper framing extending above the hull and wider than the hull, an upwardly widening intermediate framing interposed between the hull and the said upper framing for supporting the latter from the hull, and a plurality of sets of floats extending across the upper framing; at'relativelydiiferent- I levels. 1 1 I 3. In an air and watercraft, an assemblage of elements as per claim 2, in which the number of levels at which floats are disposed adjacent to the bow'and the stern of the craft is greater than at which floats are disposed in the intermediate portions of the craft. J

4. In an air and water craft, ahull of relatively small cross-section in proportion to its I length, a main structural frame-work secured to the said hull and extending above the said hull for the entire length of the hull, and.

wing carrying masts spaced longitudinally of and supported by the said main framework, the said frame-work .ceing ofa general transverse section widening upwardly from the hull and thereafter rectangular.

5. In an air and water craft, a hull of rela-# tively small cross-section in proportion to its length, a main structural frame-work secured to the said hull and extending above thesaid hull for the entire length of the hull; wing carrying masts spaced longitudinally of and supported by the said main frame-work; and

supported by the said main frame-work, the said frame-work of a general transverse sec tion wldenlng upwardly from the hull and works extending along opposite sides of the said rectangular portion of the main frame thereafter rectangular; two auxiliary framework, and cabins supported by each of the said auxiliary frame-works.

7. In an air and watercraft, a hull of rela-- tively small cross-section in proportion to its length, a main structural frame-work secured to the said hull and extending above the said hull for the entire length of the hull, wing carrying masts spaced longitudinally of and supported by the SiLlClfIilDh-PWOIk, the said frame-work being of a general transverse section widening upwardly from the hull and thereafter rectangular; two auxiliary frameworks extending along opposite sides of the said rectangular portion of themain framework; and cabins supported by each of the.

said auxiliary frame-works, the cabins at each side of the craft being disposed within the confines of the auxiliary frame-work at that side of the craft.

8. In an air and water craft, hull, a struc tural upper frame-work extending above the hull-and wider than the hull, an upwardly widening intermediate frame-work interposed between the hull and the said upper carrying masts spaced longitudinally of and t frame-Work for supporting, the said upper framing from the hull, a plurality of groups of floats'supported above the hull by the said framerwork, the floats of each group being symmetrically disposedwith respecttothe longitudinal and vertical medial plane of the liull each group of floats being ata different level and extending. for substantially the full length of the hull.

9 In an air and Water craft, a hull, framework and float assemblage as per claimS, and auxiliary groups of floats supported by the framing above the uppermost of the aforesaid groups of floats respectively'at the bow and the stern ofthecraft.

' 10. In anair and Water craft, a bull, framework and float assemblage asrper claim 8, and cabins supported by the upper frame-workat a level'intermediate of the levels of two groups Signed at Elyria, in the county of Lorain and" State of Ohio, this fourth day of April,

SAMUEL E. HITT. 

